


Steady Hands

by livistotallyawesome



Category: Homestuck
Genre: And then it wasn't, I Don't Even Know, I just thought it'd be funny, M/M, Soap Opera AU, it was just lame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-03
Updated: 2013-11-03
Packaged: 2017-12-31 10:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livistotallyawesome/pseuds/livistotallyawesome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In today's episode of 'Steady Hands'....</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steady Hands

**Author's Note:**

> This entire AU was born entirely because I can't resist making puns.

_“Is it…fatal, Doctor?”_

_“Jack,” Dr. Steady took his patient’s hand in his own, eyes boring into the others intensely, “I will not let you die.”_

_“Okay, Daniel,” Jack let out a pitiful sob, his crystal blue eyes brimming with tears._

_“There’s…something I’ve been meaning to tell you, Jack,” Daniel said, lacing their fingers together. Jack’s heart quickened and colour rose to his cheeks._

_“Yes, Daniel?” His voice lowered to a breathy whisper. Dr. Steady looked away, biting his lip, and then faced him again._

_“Jack I…” he licked his lips, ready to say the words that he’d wanted to say for so many seasons. “I lo-”_

_“Dr. Steady! Your patient in room 206 is crashing! We need you!” A tall, attractive nurse appears at the door, interrupting the moment._

_Dr. Daniel Steady locks eyes with Jack – sky blue on crimson – and sighs, letting go of his hand. The pale doctor exits the room, leaving a stunned Jack staring after him in silence…_

 

***

 

 

“Aaaand, that’s a wrap! Good work today everybody!” The director calls.

 

John Egbert lets out a sigh of relief at the sound, wiping the crocodile tears from his eyes and pushing the covers on top of him off. The previously silent set is now loud with a cacophony of sounds. Murmuring between the director and camerapersons, the slurps of coffee and the footsteps of numerous stagehands.

 

The lighting is bright and he frowns at it, shielding his eyes as he throws his legs over the bed. In his moment of blindness, he doesn’t see anyone approaching and the hand on his elbow helping him out is a slight shock. However, he recognises it and grins.

 

“Thanks Dave!” John’s coworker, Dave Strider, was probably the antithesis of everything the character he plays was. Whereas Dr. Steady – the main character of the show – was a kind, expressive and incredibly intelligent man, Dave was a bit of a dick, kind of distant, and a complete doofus.

 

“Ain’t no thing,” he replies, smoothly. That was another thing – Dr. Steady could be kind of awkward, but Dave managed to play off basically anything he did – even his biggest goofs! He always just said he was ‘being ironic’ and shrugged it off; but in reality he was a total dweeb.

 

The two of them starred in a television show called _Steady Hands_ , which focused on the career of Dr. Daniel Steady: a young surgeon in his first few years of medicine. It was the first hospital drama to feature a lead gay character, which was why John had even accepted this job in the first place. He hadn’t ever expected to be a love interest though!

 

John was a homosexual himself. After years of denying it as a kid, he found during his time at college that he really should just embrace it. It’s 2013 after all. None of his family was particularly shocked at the news when he came out to them, which kind of annoyed him because he’d thought he’d hidden it pretty well all those years. Still, after graduating with his degree in performing arts, he decided to pursue a career in acting. Now, two years later, he was a regular on _Steady Hands_ , a show that had only been running for three months before he joined the cast.

 

John’s character, Jack Edwin, was Dr. Steady’s main love interest. It was, as of yet, unknown whether Jack felt the same way (although John knew hehehe), but things were definitely leading up to that. Jack worked in the coffee shop at the hospital and Dr. Steady spent a lot of time there talking to Jack about _everything_. The two had become really close over the seasons of the show and often went out drinking together. Then one day, when Jack was laughing at one of Daniel’s jokes, he passed out. Turned out John’s character had stomach cancer! 

 

John bit his lip thinking about it. He really hoped his character didn’t die! He loved working on this show – stupid and melodramatic as it might be. John loved the small amount of fame that came with it, the glances and whispers in public – ‘That’s him right? Jack Edwin!’ – and the entire crew too! Everyone was like family to him!

 

But, honestly, the thing he liked most about being on the show? It was Dave.

 

He definitely appreciated the irony! Whereas in the show, Dr. Steady’s got the crush and Jack’s the one who’s totally oblivious – in real life, things were quite the opposite. John often enjoyed his scenes with Dave a little bit too much. He found himself unintentionally flirting with him, like he played with his hair and giggled a lot. The director loved it because – spoiler alert, fans! – Jack was actually just as interested in Daniel as Daniel was in him; but John knew deep down that it wasn’t just his amazing acting coming through there.

 

And it wasn’t just that either – the set of _Steady Hands_ was like a second home to John. His best friends were here – Dave, and also Rose and Jade! Rose played Rebecca London, a doctor specializing in psychology and mental health. She was also Daniel’s younger sister on the show! Jade played Jasmine Hark, a plucky young intern, desperate to please Dr. Steady. John had really grown attached to all three of them over the past few years. He really didn’t want any of this coming to an end.

 

Dave and John walked to the make up department in companionable silence. That was another great thing about Dave – the silences were never awkward. They were deliberate and totally comfortable. Dave was immediately stolen away when they got there. Being the star of the show and all, Dave was really popular with the ladies here! It probably helped that he was really attractive too.

 

John feels himself blushing a little and is very thankful for the inch-thick make up he has on at the moment. Julie, the lady in charge of his make up, just hands him a wet wipe. He grins as thanks and starts scraping the foundation off of his face, watching the white wipe gradually get stained orange. It didn’t look that bad when it was on his face!

 

After getting the worst of it off, he went to the sink and splashed regular water on his face, patting himself dry with a paper towel.

 

“How is your skin not hideous?” John jumps, throwing a screwed up paper towel at the person who surprised him. It bounces off of Dave’s unimpressed face. He stifles a giggle.

 

“Whoops! Sorry Dave!”

 

“You should be able to recognize my voice by now. You hear it every fucking day,” he says, rolling his eyes. John glances around, expecting to see Dave’s make up team, but they’re nowhere to be seen. He seems to notice John looking. “I ditched them. Too crowded.”

 

“That’s not nice, Dave. They’re only trying to help.” John tells him. Dave ignores him, pushing John aside so he could get to the sink. He fills it with warm water, then squirts some expensive-looking facial wash into his hands and lathering it up before washing his face.

 

“I don’t need their help to get make up off,” he says, pausing to wipe around his mouth, “it’s not difficult.”

 

John has to agree with Dave there! Washing your face was easy, although according to Dave, John even managed to do that wrong.

 

“So, why should my skin be terrible?” He asks. Dave tosses a bottle at him in response. He reads the label – an anti-blemish moisturizer. “What’s this?”

 

“It’s called not-being-a-moron-and-destorying-your-money-maker-i.e-your-face-you-fucking-moron,” Dave tells him, simply, rising the suds off of his face.

 

“Well, how can I not be a moron if I’m a fucking moron?” John asks. Dave rolls his eyes, pointedly picking up a fluffy towel to dry his face.

 

“Just use it, John. Otherwise your skin will get gross and they’ll fire your ass.”

 

There’s a tense silence then – not something he’s used to with Dave.

 

“Yo, I didn’t mean…”

 

“It’s okay!” John tells him, laughing lightly and pushing his hair back. “You’re right, after all.”

 

“Nah, they ain’t gonna kill you off,” Dave says, “not if I have anything to say about it.”

 

John grins, slapping the moisturizer onto his face. It’s green and has something called ‘Witch Hazel’ in it, which is supposed to be good for redness. John doesn’t really care, but he makes a show of applying it in a war paint style. Dave rolls his eyes.

 

“Come here, dumbass,” he reaches for John’s face and rubs the stuff in with circular motions from his thumbs. John feels his cheeks heating up and really hopes that the anti-redness stuff works!

 

“Thanks Dave,” he says when he’s finished. John picks up his backpack and smiles up at him. Dave has a good three or four inches in height on John; it’s embarrassing. “Ready to go?”

 

“Hang on. Let me get my beauty on and then we’ll go,” Dave says as he rubs the moisturizer onto his own face. John catches himself staring at those long pale fingers and looks away, busying himself with the strap of his backpack.

 

Mostly for convenience sake, but also because of reasons – _such as how the hell could he ever say no?!_ – John and Dave were living together. They had a nice apartment just four blocks away from the studio. Dave had a car and insisted on driving every morning though, even though John was perfectly happy walking! ‘Think of the environment Dave! You’re the sole destroyer of the ozone layer and you should be ashamed!’

 

John’s other coworkers, Jade and Rose, lived in the same apartment complex, but on a different floor. It was the studio that had found the apartments and suggested the cast shack up there. Although it had been a little bit out of John’s price range – he hadn’t been a prominent character until very recently – Dave had invited him to live there with him, and even offered to cover what John couldn’t afford. John had refused at first, saying that wasn’t fair, but when Dave told him he couldn’t cook to save his life and that he would be living off of take-out for the rest of his life, John felt like he should take care of him.

 

“Yo, Harley. Need a ride?”

 

John looks up from his strap to see Jade walking into the room, grinning at them both.

 

“No thanks, Dave. Rose and I are going out for ice cream since it’s such a nice day out!” Jade replies, approaching them and snatching some of Dave’s face wash.

 

John always thought it was such a shame that Jade had to wear this horrible make up. Her skin was a really pretty olive color and totally flawless and smooth. It was a shame that didn’t translate onto film. She scrubs her face aggressively and he laughs at her softly. She can be quite boisterous.

 

“Careful dear, you’ll poke an eye out.”

 

“Hi Rose!” John smiles at Rose as she appears next to him. He used to get really scared when she did that – he never managed to see her coming – but after a while he got used to it.

 

“John,” she smiles at him warmly and reaches out to push his hair out of his face.

 

“Roose!” He whines, batting her hand away. She smiles and sighs.

 

“I don’t know why you insist on wearing your hair like a bird’s nest, but what annoys me more is that it covers up your eyes. Which, might I add, are your best feature.”

 

“Yeah, yeah!” He rolls his eyes and grins at her anyway.

 

“We all know you want a ride on the SS Egbert, Lalonde, but I think you’ll find that ship sailed a long time ago. You better just stay there on the pier waving your hanky, ‘cause he ain’t coming back ‘round to pick you up.”

 

Rose throws John a look when his face colors at those words. He wasn’t secretive about his sexuality – he didn’t think it was anything to be ashamed of, especially in this industry – but he also didn’t tell people about it either. It wasn’t like people told other people when they were straight! Why should he have to do the same thing?

 

Rose knew, though. John didn’t know how she knew, but she did. Just mentioned one day how hot this guy was, and he agreed without thinking and she just gave him this capital L ‘Look’ that told him she knew. And he reckoned she knew about the Dave thing, too.

 

He’d honestly meant to tell Dave – especially when they were going to be living together – but he never really got the opportunity. It wasn’t like he was scared how Dave would react, of course. Dave was the star of a TV show following a gay surgeon after all; but for some reason John still felt a little apprehensive.

 

“I don’t need you to Captain the SS Egbert!” John says to Dave, smacking him lightly on the arm.

 

“So you want to date Rose then?”

 

“No!”

 

“Wow, John. You don’t need to sound that disgusted by the idea…” Rose says, but she’s smiling.

 

“Urgh, I’m sorry Rose! I didn’t mean it like that,” John says, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing, “I just don’t like this asshole telling me what to do!” He hits Dave again; a little harder this time for making him say mean stuff to Rose.

 

“Whatever. Let’s go, I want to go home.” With that Dave leaves the room. John sighs and pulls Rose and Jade into a quick hug before following him. He tries to ignore the warm feeling spreading in his chest since Dave used the word ‘home’.

 

***

 

The apartment is so nice.

 

It’s more than John had ever dreamed of having after he left his nice home in the suburbs. The kitchen in the apartment he shared with Dave was nothing compared to the one back home, but it was still quite large considering there was only two of them. There were two bedrooms, John having opted for the smaller one since he hadn’t been paying as much rent, but the view was better from his room anyway! They were on the top floor, and although they weren’t technically allowed roof access, he and Dave went up there sometimes to chill out.

 

“Incoming.”

 

John was sat on the couch, reading through the script for the next episode, when a plate suddenly appeared on the coffee table, piled with leftover Chinese food from the day before. It was tiring cooking all the time, so John had suggested yesterday that they get takeout.

 

“Thanks,” he looks up from the script to see Dave sitting down next to him with his own plate.

 

“No prob,” Dave shrugs, nodding to the script, “What’s going down?”

 

“Well!” John says, grinning, “Jasmine is trying her best to support Daniel right now. She’s offering to run all the tests and stuff, but he won’t let her, because he wants to do it himself. Rebecca keeps trying to talk to him, counsel him through the whole thing, but Daniel won’t listen to her. All he cares about right now is using all his strength to help Jack.”

 

“What about Jack?” Dave says around a spring roll.

 

“He’s not featured a whole lot so far, but I haven’t finished the whole script yet. So far, he’s mostly just been trying to figure out what Daniel was trying to say to him before they were interrupted. Not that it really isn’t obvious – how dumb is this guy?” John laughs and picks up his fork, starting on the egg fried rice. It never tasted as good the next day.

 

“Cool.”

 

John and Dave eat together, watching TV and cracking jokes every now and then. When they’re done eating, John offers to wash up, and Dave gladly lets him, picking up his own script to read through. After washing the dishes, John comes back into the living room.

 

“Want to do a read through of our scenes?” He asks. Dave shrugs and John sits down next to him, smiling.

 

They go through the small amount of scenes they have together in this episode. Mostly just Dr. Steady telling Jack that he’s going to be okay, showing him x-rays of his stomach and stuff and pointing out where they’re going to operate. That is, until…

 

“ ‘Daniel?’ ”

 

“ ‘Yes, Jack?’ ”

 

“ ‘What was it that you were trying to tell me the other day?’ ”

 

“ ‘I don’t know if now is the time to talk about this. Let’s focus on getting you better first.’ ”

 

“ ‘And if I don’t get better?’ ”

 

“ ‘Jack…’ ”

 

“ ‘It’s a possibility. What if I don’t? Do you want me, want me to die not knowing this one thing you’ve been wanting to tell me for so long?’ ”

 

John and Dave both read the next stage direction in silence.

 

“Oh.” John says, glancing up at Dave and hoping his face isn’t bright red.

 

“Some warning would’ve been nice,” Dave grumbles. John nods, unable to articulate very well at the moment, the word ‘KISS’ burned into his retinas. “ ‘Dr. Steady lunges across the room and meets Jack’s lips in a passionate kiss’. Lunges? Really? How is that, in any capacity, sexy?” Dave scoffs and John laughs softly, a little high pitched.

 

“Uh, so I guess that’s a thing we’ll be doing tomorrow,” John says, refusing to make eye contact and knowing his cheeks were red.

 

“Dude, you okay? Don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming, man. You’re the love interest after all.”

 

“I just – I’ve not done a kissing scene before! I don’t know what to do! Plus, it says that Dr. Steady kisses Jack – it says nothing about Jack’s reaction here! These are such shitty stage directions! I’m going to go and call the director to find out, hang on!” John stands up abruptly, the script falling to the floor as he legs it out of the living room and to his bedroom. Once there, he collapses on the bed, face down, and thinks about his options.

 

Option One: Quit. Just quit the show right now. They can write in a death scene, no problem! And, wow, that would be such a challenge to act! How fun! Haha, it’s not like you need an income or anything…

 

Okay, Option Two: Call the director. Ask her VERY nicely to write the kissing scene out. You know you’ve signed a contract saying that you’re alright with scenes of a sexual nature, but you weren’t planning on falling for your coworker! Maybe she’ll understand…

 

Lastly, Option Three: Just do it. Just kiss him! It’s scary, yeah, but this might be the only chance you ever get to kiss Dave Strider (more than once, too!) so just suck it up and DO IT.

 

YEAH!

 

With renewed vigor, John bursts from his room with a grin.

 

“Okay Dave! Everything’s fine! Let’s do this!” He runs into the living room, dropping onto the couch enthusiastically. Dave arches an eyebrow.

 

“Bit eager all of a sudden. Alright man. Let’s do this.” He clears his throat. “ ‘Jack…’ ” John nods.

 

“ ‘It’s a possibility. What if I don’t? Do you want me, want me to die not knowing this one thing you’ve been wanting to tell me for so long?’ ”

 

Dave slides his hand onto John’s cheek, who feels his pulse quicken and jump into his throat. With his eyes slipping shut, Dave presses his lips to John’s softly.

 

He thinks he’s dead. That’s the only explanation for why this feels as amazing as it does.

 

He remains unresponsive for a while before shyly pressing back and oh _wow._

 

All too soon, Dave pulls away.

 

“ ‘I love you,’ ” he says.

 

“I love you too, Dave.”

 

Oh, John thinks.

 

Fuck.

 

The two of them stare at each other for a while.

 

“Well,” Dave says eventually. “That’s not in the script.”

 

John nods, shaking, and stands.

 

“Sorry.”

 

He starts to leave, his legs slow and heavy.

 

“Wait.” There’s a hand around his wrist, tugging him back, and he’s just too dazed to do anything about it. Another hand is at his waist, pulling him closer. Lips meet his again and -

 

Oh. _Oh._

 

He pulls away immediately.

 

“What?”

 

“John-”

 

“But I don’t-”

 

“John-”

 

“And you’re not-”

 

“John-”

 

“Dave-”

 

“John, I need you to listen to me okay? Can you do that? Can you stop being a stuttering mess for just a couple of seconds here, is that possible?”

 

John sighs shakily, nodding and muttering, “R-rude.”

 

Dave smirks.

 

“John, did you mean what you said?”

 

“That I love you?”

 

“Yes, that.”

 

“Yeah, I meant it.”

 

“Okay, good job not being a mess. You’re doing great. Now, was it because of the kiss?”

 

“No.”

 

“So you’ve felt this way for a while?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“How long?”

 

“Since I started working with you.”

 

“That’s two years.”

 

“I know.”

 

“That’s a long time.”

 

“I know.”

 

“You never said anything.”

 

“I know!” John was angry, but he couldn’t place why. Was he angry with Dave for giving him the third degree? Angry with himself for being such a useless wreck? He wasn’t sure, but he was angry. “I know, okay? I know I didn’t say anything and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I liked you and you wanted to live with me, and how could I turn that down? If you knew I liked you, you wouldn’t have moved in with me and my life would suck a whole lot more than it does!”

 

“John-”

 

“No! I’m talking now. I’ve told you that I’m sorry, and I really am, and I know working with me now is going to be tough but – be a professional! I-I’ll talk to the director. Make them kill me off. I’ll move out. I’ll get out of your hair, but for God’s sake, just tell me why you kissed me just now!”

 

“John, I feel the same way.”

 

“W-Well! Oh! Okay. Th-That’s. Good explaining!” John’s voice is still raised, and he shouts this at Dave, albeit with a lot less anger in his tone. Dave laughs at him.

 

“Calm down dude,” he shrugs, as if this entire conversation wasn’t potentially life altering. “I’ve liked you for a while. Not as long as you’ve liked me, but the past few months…I don’t know. Working together, living together; you’re a huge part of my life, and I just fell for you, I guess?” He scratches the back of his head.

 

“Are you sure you like _me?_ ” John asks.

 

“Yeah man, I’m not an idiot.”

 

“All I’m saying is…you mentioned us working together…how do you know you like me and not Jack?” Dave lowers his shades to look at him, and John feels colour rising to his cheeks.

 

“Really, John? I’m not that unprofessional. Besides, Jack Edwin is an annoying manchild and anyone who could possibly fall for him is a complete idiot.”

 

John giggled. It was true, but he gasped anyway.

 

“Are you saying that Daniel Steady is an idiot?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Wash your mouth out, Strider! Daniel Steady is a God among men!”

 

“John-”

 

“An Adonis! A beautiful, kind, caring man who will stop at nothing to help his patients!”

 

“John-”

 

“Not to mention he has PHD! That’s, like, the opposite of an idiot!”

 

“Are you sure you like me and not Daniel? You seem pretty crazy about him. Maybe I could put in a nice word for you.”

 

“Oh…no, that’s not what I meant at all. I’m just saying he’s a cool character is all.”

 

“John, just shut up and kiss me.”

 

Dave pulls John close again, joining their lips. John barely grunts in surprise before kissing him back, giggling softly to himself. He can almost feel the force of Dave’s eye roll.

 

He thinks about how much they’ve been through together, and hopefully all the things they will do now. He thinks about filming more episodes, and really getting to enjoy his on-screen kisses with Dave. He hopes that Jack Edwin doesn’t die, but he also doesn’t really mind that much, because at least he’ll have Dave still.

 

They remain on the couch for a while, just kissing. It’s weird that it’s not weird.

 

The script falls onto the floor, forgotten for a few hours.


End file.
